Curse of Naginalga
by TyrothDarkstorm
Summary: After hearing rumors of a strange creature lurking around in the darkness of New York, the turtles and Monalisa sets out to discover what it is, only to be dragged into another adventure that they didn't expect. Things, and people, will change. Completed!
1. Chapter 1

**Heya people! I'm back with a new story for you all to enjoy. So sit back, relax and have a great time reading this!**

 **Curse of Naginalga**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Creature in the Dark**

Monalisa and the turtles jumped across the rooftops a very dark night, trying to follow up on a lead that Casey had given them. According to what he said, he had seen something in the alleys earlier that night, something that wasn't human.

While it could be Tyroth, Sephie or one of the Chicago Knights that had come to visit, they should have made it to the lair by the time the team headed out, or at least made their presence known to the mutants. So unless it was an escaped exotic pet or zoo animal, it had to be a mutant other than their friends, be it one of the Foot's or Bishop's.

But despite searching the area that Casey had told them about, there was little to no traces of whatever he had seen. In an effort to cover more ground, the team split up into two groups, Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo in one, and Raphael and Monalisa in the other.

* * *

Searching to the east, Leonardo and his brothers made a grisly discovery. In one of the alleys, they found several bodies.

"Purple Dragons." said Donatello as he examined one of them. "And he's dead. What about the others?"

"Same here, Donnie, these two are dead as well." said Leonardo.

"This dude's deader than a dodo." said Michelangelo. "Think our mystery figure did this?"

"If that's the case, then we're dealing with something really strong." said Donatello.

"Sure, taking out four Purple Dragons isn't all easy, but what makes you believe that?" asked Leonardo.

"I've just identified the cause of death for this guy. He was crushed, by a hug. Something hugged him to death, crushing both the ribcage, arms and internal organs, as well as breaking the back."

"That takes serious strength, man, like, say, Tyroth or Leatherhead." said Michelangelo.

"But why a hug? If your that strong, surely there must be more efficient ways to kill an enemy." said Leonardo. "What about the others?"

Donatello took a few minutes to investigate the remaining bodies, and his findings were disturbing.

"One of them has been strangled, but not by hands, the bruising indicates a thick rope or similar. The other two have had their necks snapped by something blunt hitting their heads. I don't like this, Leo."

"Then at least I'm not the only one that's freaked out by this." said Michelangelo.

"I'm calling Raph and Mona, they need to know what we're up against." said Leonardo, picking up his shell-cell.

* * *

To the west, Raphael and Monalisa checked every dark alley and corner they came across, but with no luck. Standing on a rooftop, their shell-cells buzzed. Looking at the displays, they saw that it was Leonardo.

"Yes, Mona here."

"What's up, Fearless?"

"We've found, what we think are, victims of this figure we're looking for, and it doesn't look good."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Raphael.

"Four dead Purple Dragons, one was strangled, two had their necks snapped and the last one was crushed to death, by a hug."

"A hug? Who would kill by hugging someone?" said Monalisa.

"My thoughts exactly. If it is the thing that Casey saw, then we need to be very careful. If you see anything out of the ordinary, anything at all, call us and try to keep an eye on it."

"Will do, Leo. You be careful too." said Monalisa.

Ending the conversation, Monalisa looked out over the city. Somewhere out there, was something that kills Purple Dragons, but would it be friend or foe?

"You okay, babe?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking a little. We'd better go, we still have to find this thing."

Some ten minutes later, the couple came to another alley, but unlike the previous ones, there was quite some commotion going on. Looking down into the alley, they saw a few Purple Dragons laying on the ground, either unconscious or dead, and a few more that had cornered someone, or something, at the end of the alley. It was too dark to be able to see what the thugs were fighting, but Raphael and Monalisa didn't really need any reason to fight the gang.

Raphael pulled out his shell-cell and called Leonardo.

"Leo, we got a couple of Purple turkeys here, over by Steve's Dry-cleaner. Some are down for the count, but there's still a few fighting something. Might be what we're looking for."

"Great job, guys!" Stay where you are, we're on our way."

Turning back to the battle below, Raphael saw that yet another thug had fallen. But the fight took a turn for the worse, when one of the thugs lunged at their foe, with a knife in hand, and managed to hit. While he was knocked on his back instantly, the mysterious fighter cried out in pain as the knife cut flesh, in a woman's voice.

Monalisa's blood boiled, it was bad enough that the Purple Dragons attacked anyone, but women were always a different kind of prey to the gang. Having been raped by them herself once, Monalisa would never let them harm another woman in the same horrible way. Leaping down before thinking, she made her way down into the alley, her bladed fans drawn.

"Mona! Wait!" Raphael called, but she didn't listen.

With a fire in her eyes, she attacked the thugs before they even knew she was there. Slashing the closest one across his back several times, she finished him off by jabbing her folded fan into the base of his skull.

Right before their friend was killed, the remaining gang members heard him cry out in pain. They were completely taken by surprise when they were attacked.

"Oh shit!"

"One of the freaks!"

"Get her!"

Monalisa easily deflected a slash of a knife and kicked the attacker in the stomach and shoved him away, blocking an attack from another thug. With swift and fluid movements, Monalisa quickly slit the throat of one thug, while disarming the other. A few fast swipes with her warfans and the Purple Dragon was decapitated. With only one thug left, Monalisa turned to the one she had kicked earlier, only to find that her lover had already dealt with him.

"Thanks, hun."

"No problem, babe. You know that I'll always watch your back."

"I know, in more ways than one." Monalisa said with a wink, to which Raphael smirked evilly, sending pleasant chills down the lizard's spine. But, she had other things to focus on at the moment, much to both their displeasure, but neither of them could leave an injured woman alone without at leas checking up on her. For the moment, they were more concerned with her health than their own appearance.

"Excuse me, but are you alright?" Monalisa asked as she slowly approached the woman, who still hid in the dark corner.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

"Relax, lady. We're not gonna hurt you." Raphael said in an attempt to calm her down.

"Just stay away!"

"At least let us check your wounds." said Monalisa, she understood that they must look frightening to the already scared woman, but they couldn't just leave her if she needed help.

Raphael narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the shadows, and while he managed make out some of her form, what really caught his attention was movement on the ground in front of the woman.

Taking out a flashlight from his belt, Raphael shone it at the ground, revealing both the woman and the thing on the ground, and both mutants were speechless.

The woman was in fact a teenager, probably not even eighteen years old yet. She had half-long black hair with wine-red stripes on her right side, dark blue eyes and her skin was a bit pale. She wore a half-long jeans skirt and a black t-shirt with a skull motif on the chest, part of which had been cut by the thug's knife and was now stained with blood. But what shocked the mutants the most, was the thing that moved on the ground, and how it was connected to the girl. From her waist and down, was the body of a snake, easily four metres long and as thick as a human, with sand coloured scales.

The girl was half human and half snake.

 **Now how is that for a start to this story? I'm very curious to what you think this girl/snake is, and where she comes from.**

 **I hope to see you all again for the next chapter! See you then! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Cursed**

"What the shell?" said Raphael, not able to take his eyes from the human-snake girl, while she held her hands in front of her face to shield her eyes from the flashlight.

"Is she… a mutant?" Monalisa asked, still shocked with what they had discovered.

"Please, leave me alone." the girl pleaded.

"Calm down. We won't hurt you, I promise. We're mutants too." Monalisa said, trying to gain the girl's trust, while still walking closer.

"I don't want to hurt you, please go away!"

Monalisa wasn't sure what the girl meant, she guessed that she was afraid of her new strength, but she was certain that she could handle it.

"You won't hurt me. I just want to have a quick look at that cut." she said, now close enough to examine the wound. It was about eight inches long, situated a few inches above the breasts, but it was difficult to see because of the bloodied fabric of her t-shirt. Carefully pulling the hole of the t-shirt open, Monalisa tried to get a better look at the wound, and noticed some kind of pendant hanging in front of it.

When she touched it, to move it for a better view, her entire body went numb for a split second, followed by pins and needles and her vision failing for just as short time. She almost fell over when she couldn't feel her legs any more.

"Mona!"

"I'm okay, I just-" Monalisa started, but stopped when she saw what had happened. Her lower body, legs and tail, had been replaced with the same kind of serpentine body as the girl, the only difference was that the scales were the same as on the rest of Monalisa's body. The loincloth, hot pants and knee-socks had been replaced with a black skirt with pink floral pattern, just like the loincloth had had.

Staring at her changed body, memories started to surge in her mind, memories of when she awoke in the sewers after being raped and abused, and discovered that she had been mutated. She felt like a freak, a monster, that no-one would accept her and that everyone would fear and hate her.

Tears fell as she was overwhelmed by the memories and she started to panic.

"No… no no no! Not again! No!" she cried, her new long tail starting to flail a bit.

"What the shell did you do to her?!" Raphael roared at the girl, who looked almost as shocked as he was.

"I-I didn't do anything. That happened to me too."

"Then how do we undo it?!"

"Don't you think I would have done so to myself if I knew how?!"

She did have a point, she clearly didn't want to be like that, and she did tell them to stay away. Raphael didn't know what to do about this mess, at the moment he had to try and calm his mate before she hurt herself or someone else.

Making his way over to Monalisa, avoiding her flailing tail, he put his arms around her and gently pulled her into a comforting hug.

"It's gonna be okay, babe, we'll find a way to fix this." he whispered while gently stroking her hair. Crying into her mate's chest, she started to calm down, and her tail stopped flailing around.

"Raph! Mona!" they heard Donatello call, as the three brothers jumped down into the alley. The three turtles couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the girl and Monalisa, and were left speechless for almost a minute before Leonardo was able to regain his composure.

"What… happened here?" he asked.

"I don't know, but that girl is connected to it somehow." Raphael answered, nodding at the girl.

"Who, or what, is she?" Michelangelo asked, scratching his head.

"Doesn't look like any kind of mutant we've seen before." said Donatello.

"Whatever the case, we need to get Mona back to the lair. She's seriously upset." said Raphael.

"Agreed, and you're coming with us." Leonardo said, pointing at the girl, who was caught off guard by Leonardo's statement.

"Huh? Me? Why?"

"Like Raph said, you're connected to all of this somehow, and we need to know how. Besides, if you stay around here, sooner or later you'll be discovered by the police, the government or worse. Right now, we're your best option."

The girl wasn't sure if accompanying five humanoid reptiles was such a smart idea, but the blue-masked turtle was right, she didn't want to be discovered by anyone, least of all whoever, or whatever, the turtle considered to be 'worse'.

"Fine, just try to keep your distance from me."

* * *

The way back to the lair was a long and slow one, since they weren't able to go over the rooftops, due to the serpentine lower bodies that Monalisa and the strange girl had. Instead, they went the whole way through the sewers, but it still took some time, as poor Monalisa couldn't move very fast in her new body. Raphael kept his arm around her at all times, making sure that she didn't fall over.

The girl followed the mutants closely, but not too close, she didn't want to repeat what happened to the lizard, or the Purple Dragons. She didn't fully understand how she ended up together with five mutants, but she was certain that she would have to answer many questions, and maybe she could get some answers to her own.

 **Well that escalated quickly, wouldn't you say? Now Monalisa is also half snake, not something they expected, but she took it very hard, considering her mutation.**

 **Next time, we will learn more about the mysterious snake girl, and possibly more.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Revelations**

Back in the lair, Splinter sat in the TV-area and watched one of the many soap operas that he followed while waiting for his children to return. He was curious to what it was that Casey had seen, and if his children had been able to find it. But he also had a gnawing feeling that something was afoot. With the feeling growing, the old rat turned off the TV, as he couldn't focus on his show.

He hadn't more than gotten up from the armchair, when he heard the door to the lair open and his eldest son called out to him.

"Master Splinter." Leonardo said with a calm but concerned voice.

Hurrying over to his students, Splinter was worried that something terrible had happened, but he was far from prepared for what he saw.

"What is the matter, my son? Did you find what you were searching for?" he asked. But he stopped dead in his tracks and his jaw fell when he saw the half snake girl, not to mention his adopted daughter, who was also half snake.

"M-my daughter?! What has happened to you?!"

"We don't know, sensei." said Raphael, still holding Monalisa close to him. She rested her head against her lover's shoulder and her eyes were still wet from the tears. "One minute she's fine, and the next she's like this. And that girl is responsible!" he continued.

"I never wanted for this to happen! I told you to stay away from me!" the girl retorted.

"Enough!" Splinter barked. "Obviously there is much that has happened tonight, and many questions needs to be answered, but arguing will not help anyone." He then turned to the girl and spoke with a calm and kind voice.

"What is your name, child? And how did you become as you are?"

"It's Emma, and, as you've guessed, I haven't always looked like this, I used to be a normal sixteen-year old."

"What happened?" Leonardo asked.

"This happened." Emma said and pulled out the pendant from inside her t-shirt. It was made out of gold and hung in a gold chain. The pendant itself was flat and about half the size of her palm, engraved with a many-armed woman with the lower part of her body being that of a snake.

"It transformed me into… this, just as it did with her." Emma continued, putting back the necklace underneath her t-shirt.

"Great, another magical necklace. What are the odds?" said Michelangelo, earning him a confused look from Emma.

"How did you come across such a thing?" said Donatello.

"Well, I, eh… I stole it." Emma admitted, feeling ashamed.

"You stole it? Where? And why?"

"I really have to tell you my life's story? 'sigh' Fine. I ran away from home and tried to join a gang, which happened to be the Purple Dragons They were sceptical but decided to test me, by having me break into a jewellery store. That's where I found the necklace. When they checked the loot, I kept this to myself and tried it on. Then, I suddenly felt numb and dizzy, the next thing I know, I look like this and the gang freaks out and try to kill me, so I ran… slithered, as fast as I could. That was earlier this evening."

"Hmm… Did anything else happen before you transformed? There must have been many people before you that have come in contact with the necklace." said Leonardo.

"Now that you mention it, I did cut a finger when I broke the store's window. It wasn't deep, but it did bleed for a while."

"Then you might have gotten blood on the necklace, that could have triggered something." said Donatello.

"So what do we do about it?" asked Raphael.

"I'll take a picture of the necklace and do an image search, see what I can find out about it. But I think we need someone more knowledgeable when it come to magic."

"That means Tyroth, right?" said Michelangelo.

"Precisely. He should be able to help somehow, but it will take some time before he arrives."

"Then we will have to wait for him. In the meantime, we need to see to our guest's injuries and Monalisa in general." said Splinter.

"Of course, sensei."

* * *

Telling Emma to follow him to the med-room, Donatello could see that she was uncomfortable around them, most likely because she still didn't know much about them.

"Okay, if you remove your t-shirt, I'll have a look at that cut. Here's a towel so you can cover yourself. I'll prepare some equipment over here, so I won't disturb you."

Emma was a bit reluctant to undress in front of a stranger, let alone a turtle, but she didn't want the wound to get infected. Sighing, she removed her t-shirt, but kept her bra, and wrapped the towel around her chest.

"There, I'm done." she said. Donatello walked over with alcohol, cotton balls, needle and thread, in case the wound would require sewing.

"Could you remove the necklace as well?" he asked, noticing that it still hung around her neck.

"I can't. I've tried to get it off ever since it changed me, but it won't come off."

"Is the lock broken?"

"No, I don't think so, but there's more than that. I've tried opening it, tearing it off, cutting it apart. Nothing works. I can't even pull it over my head, it's like it's stuck on me."

"More magic I suppose, really need to see what I can dig up on it. I guess I'll simply move it aside."

"No, don't touch it! It might change you too."

"Oh, right, I didn't think about that. Could you move it then?"

Emma did as asked and held the pendant away from the cut while Donatello examined and cleaned it. She winced when the alcohol touched the wound, but luckily, it didn't need stitching.

"There is one thing that I wonder." Donatello said. "We found a couple of dead Purple Dragons in an alley. They had had their necks broken, been strangled and even crushed. Do you know anything about that?"

"...kinda." she said looking away as if she was ashamed. "They were with me when I was transformed, and chased me. They cornered me and I thought for sure that I was going to die. Then everything gets hazy, but I could see them when I killed them. I don't know how, I just did."

"Sounds like your survival instincts kicked in. When you're face with something very dangerous, your brain will choose whether to fight or flee, regardless of what you'd want, most often it will choose to flee. But, if you're been under a lot of emotional or mental pressure, to name a few causes, your brain may go for fight instead and viciously so. I've seen it happen to others."

"I've never killed anyone before, never wanted to, and now I've killed several. How am I supposed to handle this? How does anyone handle something like this?"

"It ain't easy, I'll give you that much, but there is a difference between killing in defence and in cold blood. If you know that you saved someone's life, it's easier to move on, if only a little. But if you are against such things, why did you join up with the Purple Dragons?"

"I needed somewhere to go, somewhere that my family wouldn't find me."

"Why did you run away in the first place?"

"Personal reasons, please leave it at that. But I'd like to know what happened to you guys, how did you become what you are? And what are your names?"

"Oh, right, we never told you that. Well, it's one shell of a story, one that master Splinter usually tells, but we all know it just as well. I'm Donatello by the way, or Donnie for short."

* * *

Meanwhile, Monalisa sat in the couch in the TV-area, just staring at her lower body. She had a hard time accepting her new form, and the memories of her first mutation haunted her anew.

"Hey, babe. How are you feeling?" Raphael asked as he walked up to his mate with a cup of herbal tea to help her calm down. Monalisa looked up at him, her eyes still having a sad look in them.

"I don't know." she said. "My mind is in turmoil right now."

Placing the cup on the table, Raphael sat down next to Monalisa and placed his hand on hers.

"We'll get through this, love. And you're not alone, I'm here for you, and so are the others." Raphael said in an effort to comfort her, and she did smile a little.

"I know you are, hun. I'm just shaken. I felt so afraid that you'd see me as a monster, that you wouldn't love me any more..."

"That's enough of those thoughts, babe. None of us would ever think of you as a monster. And I won't stop loving you just because you're part snake now. You're still the same girl that you were yesterday." said Raphael, putting his arms around Monalisa and pulling her into a caring hug.

Monalisa returned the hug, shedding a few tears. Opening her eyes after a while, she looked up and saw a pained expression on Raphael's face.

"You don't have to put on a brave face for my sake, hun. I know I'm not pleasant to look at any more." she sighed.

"That's… not it… never was… you're… squeezing me… too tight..." Raphael said, seemingly short of breath.

Not understanding what he meant, Monalisa looked down and got her answer. She had unknowingly coiled her tail around Raphael's torso and hugged him with it as well.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, darling! I didn't mean to!" she said, releasing the grip of her tail and letting Raphael breathe again.

"It's fine, babe… oxygen is… overrated anyway." he said, gasping for air. "That tail of yours is pretty damn strong. Might even be useful until we can change you back."

"Perhaps, but I'm not very comfortable with it. I sure hope that Tyroth can help me."

* * *

Leonardo walked into the lab, where Michelangelo sat at the computer. It was a bit surprising that Michelangelo was so adept at using the communication that Donatello and Hacker had set up between the lair and Mutopia, but since it had turned out that Hacker enjoyed online games, Michelangelo would often play together with the mutant spider.

"Any luck?" Leonardo asked.

"Nope, sorry, bro. Big T and the rest of the Chicago Knights are out on patrol."

"I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. If I call him on his shell-cell, I might give away his position. But this is rather urgent, and he should have the shell-cell on vibe, I hope."

Using his own shell-cell, Leonardo waited for Tyroth to answer. It took a while, but finally someone picked up the phone.

"Tyroth here, what's up?" the dragon answered on speaker. But there was quite some commotion in the background.

"Tyroth, it's Leo. We need some help."

"Okay, what kind- Hey! I'm on the phone! Ehm, what kind of help?"

"Eh… the magical kind."

"I see. Could you- Get off me! Leo, I'm gonna have to call you back in, say, five minutes."

With that, the dragon hung up, leaving the two turtles wondering what was going on.

"What was that about?" Michelangelo asked.

"I think… he was busy."

A few minutes later, Leonardo got a call from Tyroth. This time it was a lot calmer in the background, with the exception of a female cursing.

"There, now we can talk." said Tyroth.

"What happened, anyway?"

"You just happened to call when we were busting a large group of organized car thieves. Quite the rude bunch, not letting me talk to you, but their workshop is large and nice. Don't think they would mind if we salvaged a few things before the cops take them away."

"Okay, but as I said, we need your help with a magical problem."

"Can't promise that I'll be that much help, but I'll give it a try. What's the story?"

A few minutes later, Leonardo had told Tyroth everything they knew at the moment.

"Sounds serious, and strange. I'll take the Ninjet and be there in little more than an hour. Just need to take Percy back for some medical treatment."

"He's injured? Is it serious?"

"Not really. Just before I called you, when the crooks had been dealt with, he accidentally started a spray-painter and partially covered Kate in a coat of blue. He was laughing so hard that he thought he was going to die, so Kate decided to help him on his way."

Michelangelo was trying very hard to hold back his laughter. If Kate heard him on the other end, he could count on getting a similar treatment next time they met, despite their close bond. Even Leonardo found the situation funny, but he forced himself to focus.

"So, just over an hour then? Right, we'll meet you at the scrapyard."

"Roger that, Leo. See you soon."

 **Phew, quite the eventful chapter this one. And a lot more is going to happen in the coming ones, as Emma is now in their care and Tyroth is on his way. But will he be able to help them, or is this too much for him?**

 **The severity of their current situation doesn't however prevent a few funny scenes to make their way into this chapter. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **We Need Answers**

Back in the med-room, Donatello had finished the treatment of Emma's wound and bandaged it to avoid having it get infected again. He was just about to take a picture of the necklace for his investigation, when Splinter walked in.

"How is our guest feeling?" he asked.

"All things considered, she's fine, physically at least." said Donatello.

"I see. Do you agree with that statement, child?"

"I guess. Look, I'm thankful that you've helped me, but I don't see what else you can do about all of this." said Emma.

"If we do not try, then how do we know that there is no way to help you? Our family has experienced many things over the years, and we have always found a way." Splinter said.

"So I'm told."

"I told her a bit of our past, hope you don't mind, master."

"Not at all, my son. I just spoke with Leonardo, he has been able to contact Tyroth, and he should be here later tonight."

"Great! I knew we could count on him."

"You've mentioned this Tyroth several times now, but you've never said who he is." said Emma.

"He's another mutant and a very good friend that's helped us many times. Plus, he can use magic himself, so he should be able to do something."

"Indeed, but it will take a while before he arrives. I recommend that you try and get some rest, child, you have had a very hard time."

"That doesn't sound like such a bad idea. I am rather tired."

"You can take a nap on the bed here, if you want to. We'll be nearby if you need anything." said Donatello.

* * *

It didn't take very long for Emma to fall asleep, it was late and she was exhausted. Splinter had brought her a few blankets so she could keep warm as she curled up as best she could. But her sleep was far from peaceful. It wasn't before long that she was tormented by nightmares and thrashed around in bed.

"No… no… get away… please… Mom… Dad… help… don't leave me..."

"Emma. Emma, wake up."

"Who? What? Where am I?" she asked when she awoke with a jolt, seating bullets and breathing rapidly.

"It is alright, child. It was only a night terror, you are safe here." said Splinter, placing a comforting paw on Emma's shoulder. "There is nothing to be afraid of."

"Splinter? Oh, thank God. I thought… I thought I was back on the streets, people were hunting me… I was all alone..."

"You are not the only one to have such night terrors, child. We all have something that haunt us."

Emma wanted to pull up her knees against her chest, but all she could do was hug a part of her tail. Splinter looked at her sad expression and sat down on a chair next to her.

"I should never have run away." she said, sobbing slightly as everything started to sink in. "If I had just stayed at home, none of this would have happened."

"Why did you run away from your family?"

"It was such a stupid thing. I wanted to go to a party, but they wouldn't let me, so I got angry and it escalated into a lot of screaming and yelling. I said a lot of things that I didn't mean, the last I said was that I hated them and that they were terrible parents. And now, I may never see them again." Emma started crying. "All I wanted was to have some fun… instead I got turned into a monster..."

"All is not lost, child." said Splinter, placing his paw on her hand.

"Do you… do you really think you can turn me back?"

"I believe so, but I will be honest with you, there is a risk that it will not work and that you will remain as you are. But, should that happen, know that you are not alone, there are others like us who have started new lives. Mutants that can take you in, if you allow them, and one day, you will find happiness again."

Emma listened closely to what Splinter said, and even though she didn't like all that he said, she did find some solace in the fact that she wouldn't have to be alone, despite her monstrous form.

"Now dry your tears, child, and follow me to the kitchen. You must be hungry after everything you have been through."

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Emma sat in the kitchen, as good as she could anyway, slowly sipping her tea after finishing a few sandwiches and some fruit. Splinter kept her company all the time, and he could see that she was feeling a little better, but she was obviously still nervous about what would happen to her.

"How do you feel?" Splinter asked.

"Better, thank you." Emma responded with a small smile, but it faded quickly. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused, and for what happened to Monalisa."

"It was not your fault, you meant no harm. And Monalisa is a strong woman, she will recover."

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?"

"I am certain she will, she is a kind soul and she knows that it was an accident. You do not have to worry about it."

"Master Splinter!" Michelangelo called as he hurried into the kitchen. "Leo's back with Tyroth and Sephie."

"Thank you, my son. We will be right there." said Splinter, and Michelangelo left, going back to the entrance. As the youngest turtle left the kitchen, the old rat turned to Emma. "Well, miss Emma, are you ready to meet him?"

"I think so. But, who's Sephie?"

"She is Tyroth's mate, and like him, a very good friend of ours, especially of Monalisa. Now, let us go and greet them."

Following the old rat, Emma was a little worried that this Sephie would blame Monalisa's condition on her. As they got to the entrance, she saw that all the turtles were there, with the exception of Donatello, Monalisa was also absent. Looking past the turtles, Emma saw another female lizard mutant dressed in red, she assumed that she was Sephie, but what really caught her attention, was the large dragon mutant standing beside the lizard.

His serious face, none-human eyes and size intimidated Emma, and she actually stopped in her tracks.

"There is nothing to fear, miss Emma." said Splinter with a comforting smile. "Though he might look frightening at first, he is a noble and honourable warrior and only dangerous to those who seek to hurt others for their own gain."

"So, this is the girl with the magic necklace. Emma was it?" said Tyroth when he saw Splinter and Emma.

"Um… y-yes, th-that's me." Emma stammered, still rather scared of the dragon, not to mention worried about the other lizard. But Sephie did something that Emma didn't expect; she felt for her.

"Poor you, having something like this happen to you. I really hope that we'll be able to help you." Sephie said.

"So… you're not angry at me for what happened?" Emma asked a little careful.

"Of course not. It wasn't on purpose, was it?"

"No."

"Then why should I be angry at you. You're ass much a victim as Mona. Speaking of her, where is she?"

"She's over by the TV." said Raphael. "I've been with her since this started, but I think she might need a friend as well."

"You go and talk to her, love. In the meantime, I'd like to hear more of how all this started." said Tyroth to Sephie, who nodded and hurried over to the TV-area.

"Mona?"

"Oh, hi Sephie."

"How are you feeling?"

"Worse than I should, I guess. I'm still at good health and no-one here shuns me for how I look now, so I'm lucky. But I almost lost it before."

"I don't blame you. You've been through a lot, but look on it from the bright side, you do look good in snakeskin."

Monalisa looked at Sephie like she had lost her mind, but she simply smiled back.

"Just trying to lighten up the mood, just like you did for me when we tried to rescue Tyroth from the Foot."

Monalisa couldn't help but smile at Sephie's attempt to make her feel better, and she actually did feel a little better.

"You know, when I was fourteen, I had my eyes on a pair of knee high boots made out of imitation snakeskin. I wanted them so badly, but when I had saved up enough money, they were gone. Don't even know why I wanted them in the first place." Monalisa said with a smile. "Guess I simply liked scales or something."

"That's the smile that I like to see, it's so pretty. You'll see that we'll find a way. Now, should we join the others and hear what they have to say?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

As the girls went back to the others, Tyroth had just been told everything that had happened and looked like he was deep in thought.

"So, anything that sounded familiar?" Raphael asked.

"No, sorry, nothing among my dragon memories, but that doesn't mean I can't try. Though, I would still want to know more about the origin of that necklace."

"I might be able to help a little with that." said Donatello, having just left his lab. "For the last hour or so, I've been scouring the web for anything related to the necklace, and while there were mostly nonsense, I did find some interesting information."

"Well, don't keep us in the dark, brainiac. Tell us." said Michelangelo.

"It is a necklace of Naginalga, a minor deity or spirit within Hinduism, most often depicted as a many-armed woman with the lower body of a snake, like on the pendant. Other than that, the only consistencies I've found are that it's said to be cursed, and that said curse only affects women, not men."

"So it's safe for us to touch he damn thing then?" said Raphael.

"If the info is accurate, yes, but the only thing we know for sure is that Sephie can't touch it."

"But why didn't activate until Emma found it? Even if it only affect women, there have to have been more that have handled it recently." said Leonardo.

"Like I said earlier, there has to be something that triggers the curse. Blood, theft of the necklace, alignment of the stars, almost anything could have been the cause for reawakening the curse."

"Still not much to go on, but I think I can learn more when I try dispelling the curse." said Tyroth. "If the rest of you give me and Emma some room, I'm gonna see what happens."

After the others had backed away a few metres, Tyroth approached Emma and reached for the necklace. He touched it but nothing happened, he could feel the magic within it, but it seemed dormant, almost but not quite. Grabbing the chain with both hands, he tried to pull it apart, however, just as Emma had told him, it didn't work, the chain held despite Tyroth's great strength. Moving his hands back to the pendant, he prepared himself.

"Okay, Emma, I'm going to try and neutralize the necklace so we can remove it and store it safely. As long as you wear it, there's no real use in trying to make you human again."

"Right. Will it hurt?"

"Honestly, I don't know. It might, it might not, either way you should brace yourself. Ready?"

Emma nodded and Tyroth began channelling his mana into the necklace. He was then suddenly and forcefully thrown back almost five metres and landed on the floor with a loud thud. Emma was terrified and the others rushed over to the dragon.

"Tyroth!"

"Are you okay, big guy?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I wasn't prepared for that kind of reaction though." said Tyroth as he sat up.

"What happened?" Splinter asked.

"Some kind of protection I guess. Best I can describe it is trying lay a huge jigsaw puzzle blindfolded, but if you place one piece wrong, it's back to square one. That's when I was thrown through the air."

"So what do we do now?" asked Sephie.

"I want to try to change Mona back, see if that goes any better. If nothing else, maybe I'll learn something."

Once everyone had given Tyroth and Monalisa some room, the two gently took each other's hands and Tyroth once again started to pry into the curse. It didn't take very long until he was thrown back with great force again.

"No luck, I guess." said Michelangelo.

"Not really, no." said Tyroth. "It's the same thing as with the necklace, one wrong move and I end up on the floor."

"Then, there's nothing you can do?" said Emma, saddened by the apparent failure.

"Hey, I'm not giving up. I'll keep trying for as long as it takes. Though, I wouldn't mind if I could get a bunch of pillows or a mattress to cushion my flights."

 **It seems like even Tyroth is having trouble with the pendant's magic, that is not the best of news for Mona and Emma, both of which are in a rather fragile emotional state. At least they have the others to help them recover.**

 **What do you think will happen next? Find out next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Chasing A Lead**

A few hours passed and Tyroth continued to try and lift the curse laid upon Monalisa and Emma. Over one hundred attempts, but none of them came close to succeeding. Laying on the mattress, he was starting to tire? and decided to take a break to reflect on what little progress he had made.

The magic behind the curse was definitively powerful and, for the moment, it was beyond his skill. But that wasn't the only thing that he had learned. Just before he was repelled by the magic, images flashed before his eyes for just a fraction of a second. Tyroth had a feeling that those images could contain important clues, but how would he be able to study them?

Sitting up, he crossed his legs and closed his eyes.

"What's he doing? I thought that he would continue." said Emma.

"He's meditating, something must be bothering him. Best to just let him be for the time being." said Monalisa. "Whenever he meditates deeply on something, it's close to impossible to contact him."

"Great. Now what?"

"How about some food? It's almost dinner time for us."

* * *

Quite some time later, Tyroth awoke from his deep meditation.

"Welcome back." he heard Leonardo say, who stood right in front of him. "Did you uncover anything?"

"Maybe. I saw images of a temple, somewhere among the snowy tops of mountains. Might be where that necklace came from."

"Then there might be some answers there. Do you know where it is?"

"No, but if this Naginalga is a Hindu deity, I would guess that it's somewhere in the Himalayas or close by, the style of the temple looked the part. Wherever it is, I'm certain that I'll recognize the area if I see it."

"The Himalayas are in Asia, that's on the other side of the world. I may have gone to Japan several times, but this would be completely different since we'd have to scour the mountains. Do you think the Ninjet can take us there if we need to?"

"As far as I know, it hasn't made any flights that long, but Haito has boasted about that it is capable of at least a lap and a half around the world. Let's hope that he's right, and that we have enough fuel left."

"Either way, we have to tell the others. If this temple holds any kind of clue to undoing the curse, we must consider it."

And so they did. Needless to say, the rest were not overly fond with the thought of searching for a temple somewhere in the Asian mountains.

"Such a journey would be very treacherous." said Splinter. "Even experienced mountain climbers are at risk in those areas, and the cold climate will not be kind to you, being cold blooded."

"We know, master, but it is our only lead right now, we have to at least consider it, but we will not go unprepared." said Leonardo.

"But, I thought that Tyroth would be able to cure us. You said he would." said Emma.

"And I believe I can, but it will take time, how long I don't know, weeks, months, years even. I have to make progress eventually, however, if there's something at this temple that could help, then I want to take that chance." said Tyroth.

"Well, you're not going alone, I won't let you." said Sephie. "If you're going, then I'm coming with you."

"You can count on us as well. It wouldn't be right to have the two of you go on something like this to solve our problem." said Monalisa. "And we can't just sit around doing nothing."

"What she said." said Michelangelo, and the other turtles agreed.

"Thanks, guys." Tyroth then turned to Emma. "It pains me to do this, but I have to ask you to come along."

"Why do I have to go?"

"There might be something there that can change you back, a ritual chamber, a spell or whatever, but I have a feeling that the necklace is a big part of it all, and since we can't remove it, there is no other way. Besides, it will save us both time and fuel."

Emma sat silently, looking at Tyroth with a troubled look in her eyes. After a few seconds, she sighed deeply.

"I guess I have no choice then. When do we leave?"

"The sooner the better, but we have to prepare properly for this expedition." said Leonardo. "We need warm clothes, food and water, medical equipment just in case and probably more."

"Shouldn't be that hard to get everything. We should be ready to leave within the hour, well before sunrise." said Donatello, rubbing his chin while going over everything in his mind.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to work." said Raphael.

* * *

The mutants got to work, collecting and packing everything they could need. Monalisa and Sephie even worked together to sew long, warm skirts for both Emma and Monalisa, since their lower halves weren't built for pants or boots. The skirts didn't even cover half their tails, but it still was better than nothing, and they made a few extra so that they had change if need be.

With their backpacks packed and ready, the mutants and half snake stood by the entrance, going over their packs a final time. Splinter was with them and wished them good luck on their journey. As they said good bye and made their way towards the scrapyard where the Ninjet was parked, the old rat closed his eyes and said a prayer for the children.

"Master Yoshi, please watch over them on this perilous journey that lay ahead of them. Keep them safe and guide them back home again."

* * *

Standing in the middle of the scrapyard, Emma looked around confused.

"Um… didn't you say that you had a jet of some sort here? I can't see anything."

"Oh, it's here alright, and it's not meant to be seen." said Tyroth, holding a small remote in his hand. With a press of a button on it, the air in front of them flickered and a large Blackbird-like aircraft appeared. Emma's eyes widened and she started to laugh nervously.

"This is just unreal." she said, still laughing a little. "I've been turned into a snake by a cursed necklace, now I'm being helped by mutant turtles, lizards and a dragon who can use magic, and we're going to Asia in a jet that's taken straight from Star Trek. I'm freaking out a little here."

"You'll get used to it. Stuff like this happen to us all the time." said Michelangelo.

"I don't think that will help her calm down." said Sephie.

It took a few minutes to load everything and everyone onto the Ninjet, and to calm down Emma, but once they were all done, Tyroth started the jet, engaged the cloak and took off.

* * *

"Is it just me, or does it feel more bumpy than usual?" Monalisa asked after they had been flying for a few hours.

"It was the same way when we left Chicago." said Sephie. "We didn't think much of it at the time, but now I'm starting to worry."

Suddenly, a post-it note fell in front of Michelangelo, it had been in a corner behind the cockpit, barely visible if you didn't know where it was. Michelangelo noticed the note, picking up and reading it. He turned pale. Leonardo noticed that and the note.

"What is it, Mikey?" he asked.

"We're all gonna die!" Michelangelo wailed all of a sudden, scaring the rest.

"What do you mean? What does that note say?" Leonardo asked.

"The worst kind of news ever, listen. 'Have been tinkering with the Ninjet. Don't worry, most of the parts should be where they're supposed to. Rattletrap.'"

Everyone went as pale as Michelangelo when he read the note, aside from Emma, who was starting to panic.

"You guys are starting to freak me out. What does that mean? Who or what is 'Rattletrap'?" she said.

"Rattletrap is our home's self-appointed mechanic. Most things he tinker with tend to fall apart." said Sephie, causing Emma to go white as a sheet.

"We've already gotten too far to turn back. But when I get back home, I'm gonna gag and tie up that rat, then I'm gonna teach Sonia how to play piñata!" said Tyroth, calmly at first, then more viciously.

"Well, nothing has gone wrong yet, maybe-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Donnie!" Raphael almost yelled. "We all know what will happen if you do!"

While Raphael chewed out his brother, Emma was terrified for her life.

'I should have stayed with the Purple Dragons, it would have been safer.' she thought to herself.

 **And they're off to Asia, though not in the safest of vehicles it seems. Better hope that Rattletrap didn't cause too much damage when he tinkered with the Ninjet, he really should learn to keep his hands in check.**

 **Check in next time for the conclusion to their flight.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Now What?**

Despite the Ninjet's high speed, it still took a long time for them to reach the Himalayas. During that time, many of them tried to get some sleep, though they didn't sleep very well knowing that the jet potentially could fall apart at any given moment.

"Heads up, guys." Tyroth said to those that were still awake. "Looks like there's rough weather up ahead."

"Maybe we should go around it. The storms in this region could be vicious." said Leonardo, and he did have a point. The weather did look quite bad, with the occasional flash of lightning among the masses of dark clouds.

But as Tyroth was about to alter their course, the jet was struck by a lightning bolt. Every display onboard went dark and the plane shook from the bolt.

"What the shell was that?!" said Michelangelo, who was, just like everyone else, woken up by the sudden event.

"We've been hit by lightning!" said Donatello. "No response from any systems! Manual analogue rudder control still working, but propulsion is gone!"

"We're going to crash!" Emma screamed.

Tyroth did all he could to keep the plane under control, but the controls didn't respond well enough to counter the harsh winds from the storm in front of them. The entire jet continued to shake as it lost altitude, heading towards the mountains. All Tyroth could do was to try and steer the jet towards the thick snow and hope that it would cushion the imminent crash.

Large amounts of snow were thrown high into the air when the jet impacted and skid across the peak before coming to a stop.

Inside, most of the team lay in a heap on the floor.

"Ugh… everyone still in one piece?" Leonardo asked, and aside from some scrapes and bruises, everyone seemed to be okay, even though the snake-parts of Monalisa and Emma almost looked like a knot.

"Hey, Mona? Could you please get your tail off my shell?" said Michelangelo, who was laying on his stomach with a big snake tail on his back.

"Would if I could, but it's not my tail, it's Emma's."

"No it's not." said Emma. "It has to be yours."

"Um… guys. I can't feel my legs." said Sephie, and there was a unanimous 'uh-oh' from the others.

After they had managed to untangle the serpentine tails, they all saw that Sephie too had been cursed.

"Not me too. 'sigh' This keeps getting worse."

"Not to be rude or anything, but I would still appreciate if you could remove your tail from my shell."

"Right, sorry, Mikey."

But when Sephie managed to lift her intensely green tail, Michelangelo's shell was stuck to the underside and he was lifted up from the floor as well.

"Gah! Help! Put me down!"

"Fascinating. Despite being part snake now, Sephie still retains her ability to grip on to any surface like a gecko." said Donatello.

"That's really interesting, brainy-bro, but I'm still stuck here!"

"Hold on, I think I got it." said Sephie, and a few seconds later, Michelangelo fell to the floor with a thud. "Sorry, Mikey. It takes some getting used to this. You're not hurt, are you?"

"It's alright, I'm good."

"How did this happen?" said Tyroth, as he walked up to his mate, deeply concerned about her.

"I think that I bumped into Emma during our landing, must have touched the necklace. It all happened so fast, so didn't notice anything at the time."

"Are you alright? You're not hurt or anything?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly fine, aside from the whole snake thing. It's not the first time I've been transformed, I'll manage. But it is getting annoying."

"Anyone got any idea why we crashed?" asked Monalisa. "I thought the Ninjet was beyond state of the art technology, shouldn't it have some kind of protection against lightning?"

"My money's on a certain rat, a rat that I'll kill when I get my hands on him!" said Raphael.

"Ease up, Raph," said Leonardo in an attempt to calm his hot-headed brother. "and get to the back of the line."

"While you work that out, I'll see if I can't fix up this bird." said Donatello. "I, for one, do not look forward to walking back home."

While Donatello removed a panel under the dashboard, and once Tyroth was certain that Sephie was okay, the dragon walked over to where the wings were on the outside and tried to open the emergency hatches. One wouldn't budge at all, probably blocked by a ton or two of snow, the second one required some extra strength but it did open.

Looking out, the winds whipped up a lot of snow, both newly fallen and old snow that their crash landing had kicked up. The entire front of the jet was buried underneath truckloads of snow, digging it out would take quite a while but at least it wouldn't go anywhere on its own. What could be seen of the jet looked unharmed, so there was a good chance of flying it again, depending on what internal damage the crash, and Rattletrap, had caused.

Seeing that the storm they had tried to avoid was heading their way, and that the sun was setting, Tyroth was just about to close the hatch when his eyes caught something. There was some form of temple further down the mountains, maybe an hour or two away.

"How did it look out there?" Leonardo asked.

"Not too bad, aside from that weather that downed us, it's heading this way and may last the night. I also saw a temple not too far away from here."

"The temple that we're looking for?"

"I'm not sure, it looked similar, but the images were a little unsharp. Either way, I think that we should check it out, even if it's the wrong temple, we might find something useful."

"Good idea, but if there's more bad weather coming, we'd better wait until it has passed and go tomorrow."

"Agreed. How's it going for Donnie? Any luck?"

"I'm afraid not." said Donatello, who walked over to them with a frown. "I don't know how he managed, but Rattletrap succeeded in turning the jet into a lightningrod, or rather the electronics inside the jet. We're lucky that the interior was protected or we would all have been electrocuted as well."

"Can you fix the damage?" asked Leonardo.

"Maybe, first I have to get all the pieces back where they are supposed to be, then we'll see how bad the damage really is. But that line you were talking about earlier, sign me up after Raph, 'cause I want to give that rat a piece of my mind!"

 **It seems Rattletrap caused the team even more trouble than they expected. Not expecting that he will last very long once they get back home.**

 **And Sephie got cursed too, things aren't looking very good for them, but at least they are alright and seem to be in the right place, more or less.**

 **Though that storm might still cause some problem. Let's see how they do, in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **After the Storm**

Deciding to stay in the jet proved to be a wise choice, as with the storm came more snow. Had they tried to reach the temple, they would have gotten about halfway by the time the storm hit, and the odds of them surviving in that weather, in those temperatures, were not good.

They had spent the night all huddled up close to each other to keep warm. Because Donatello wasn't finished with the repairs, they didn't have any other means of not freezing, aside from moving around, but that wasn't an option as they needed to rest.

When dawn came, the gang awoke rather stiff, the floor wasn't very comfortable, even with blankets laid out on it. While Donatello went back to fixing the jet, the rest focused on getting breakfast done. The result was a warming broth to go with the sandwiches they had with them.

Taking a peek outside, they were pleasantly surprised that much of the snow that fell during the storm, had also been blown away by the same winds. The less snow they had to walk through the better, especially for those that lacked legs.

Once they had finished their meal, they began preparing for their journey to the temple, and possibly more than that. Meanwhile, Donatello had managed to put everything back together, but there was one problem. The surge from the lightningbolt had fried every fuse, and while Donatello had replaced nearly everyone, he was one short. It wasn't a critical problem, the jet could still fly, however there was no guaranty that the cloak would work without short-circuiting the rest of the systems. Michelangelo, along with the rest, didn't agree with Donatello about that not being a critical problem.

There was some good news however. Donatello could make an improvised fuse, he did have all the materials and tools, with one exception, some form of crystalline object, but he was certain that they would find something suitable in the temple or its surroundings.

All suited up for the colder climate outside, they exited the jet to begin their walk to the temple.

"Brrr… It's colder than I thought. I'm gonna freeze my shell off." said Michelangelo.

"You're in no place to complain." said Sephie. "Think about us that are part snake. It's like having your belly against the snow, and that's the only way we can move."

"Let's hurry before any of us gets hypothermia." said Monalisa.

"Hey, big guy, can't you melt us a path through the snow? That would make this go a lot faster." said Michelangelo.

"It would go faster alright, bob-sleigh fast. The melted snow will freeze almost instantly, forming an icy slide that will send you down the mountain like a speeding bullet. Now keep moving."

* * *

Walking first through the two feet deep snow, Tyroth acted as a snowplow, clearing a path for the rest. Three hours later, they reached the temple. Everyone was cold and shivering from the walk, despite that they were moving all the time. At least the walk itself was easy enough, with no hidden chasms or narrow ledges.

The temple had tall white walls and two big wooden doors, and there was at least one building on the inside. Walking up to the doors, Tyroth was just about to see if he could open them, when they were opened from the inside, and the mutants were met by a monk. But the monk simply smiled and motioned for them to come inside, leaving the mutants shocked. They hadn't even considered that someone lived in this temple, with it being so remote, even for a temple, but that the monk didn't seem to be affected by their appearance was what surprised them the most.

Inside the walls, where it was quite a lot warmer, there was a large courtyard in front of what appeared to be the main building, there were also a few smaller buildings on the sides as well as a small garden in the middle. Several more monks were scattered over the courtyard, all having the same shaved heads and red robes, and just like the one the mutants followed, none of them reacted to their appearance.

The team was led into the main building, into a large room with a shrine of sorts in the far back. The room also had several pillows on the floor, making it clear that it was used for meditation.

Sitting in the middle of the room was another monk, older than the others they had seen so far, seemingly meditating. He opened his eyes, looked at the younger monk and bowed slightly. The other monk bowed back and left the room. Once he had left, the old monk looked at the mutants and smiled.

"Welcome." he said in good English. "Please, sit down."

The mutants looked nervously at each other, but still sat down on the pillows.

"And where from might you be?"

"Um… America." said Leonardo.

"I see. You have come a long way."

"I'm sorry, but aren't you at all shocked about how we look?" asked Sephie.

"Not at all. Maybe a little surprised, but not shocked. Life comes in many shapes and sizes, and all are to be treated with respect."

"If only more people shared that attitude." said Monalisa.

"Tell me, what brings you here?" asked the monk.

"We came here with the hopes that we could undo the curse that has afflicted our friends here." said Tyroth, gesturing towards the girls.

"I see. The curse of Naginalga."

"You know of it?" asked Leonardo.

"I do, though not as much as you would want. This temple once served as a training area for those who wished to become priestesses of Naginalga."

"Priestesses? As in women?" said Monalisa.

"Yes, but that was a long time ago. The grand temple and this temple has been pillaged by barbarians and conquerors several times since those days. Almost all records have been lost, not to mention the artefacts. As it is now, the grand temple has stood abandoned for many centuries, and none of the original order remain. Our predecessors found this temple two hundred years ago, and we have been here ever since, studying the past and seeking enlightenment and harmony."

"What else can you tell us about the curse?" asked Tyroth.

"It is bound to one of the stolen artefacts, the talisman of Naginalga, which once rested on an altar in the grand temple."

"Talisman? Do you mean this necklace?" said Emma, and showed the necklace she wore.

"Indeed it is. If what records we have left are correct, placing it on the altar will lift the curse."

"But, I can't take it off. How am I supposed to place it anywhere?"

"Once you are near the altar, it should come off on it's own. I think."

"There is one thing that puzzles me." said Leonardo. "Why does the curse only affect women?"

"I do not know. That is a mystery, especially since Naginalga is supposed to be a protector of women, hence why there were only women in the order."

"That is odd." said Donatello. "One would think that any curse from such a guardian would only affect men."

"I agree, but there is much that we do not know. Hopefully you will find the answers you seek once you reach the grand temple." said the monk.

"Do you know how to get there?" asked Raphael.

"Of course, it is only a few hours away, but you should take a while to rest, maybe even wait until tomorrow. The path used to be the final trial for initiates, so it is no simple walk. You are welcome to stay here for the night."

"We thank you for your generous offer." said Leonardo, bowing to the old monk.

 **The team survived the night and have found a temple, not the right one, but it's very close. And they've also learned a few things about the curse, though I bet they were pretty surprised to be accepted directly by the monks.**

 **Next time, they start their trek deeper into the mountains to find the grand temple, and what challenges that lay along the way.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **The Narrow Path**

While resting in the temple for an hour, the gang ate some food, more warm broth and sandwiches, which helped greatly with getting warm again after the walk from the jet. Once they felt that they were ready, they sought out the old monk. They still had many hours of daylight left, so they would reach the grand temple with time to spare, but it was most likely that they would have to spend the night there, or try getting back before sunset.

Being led to a large door in the far back of the temple, the reptiles saw what awaited them on the other side. A path that led deeper into the mountains, continuing on a ledge that led upward.

"This is the path to the grand temple." said the old monk. "The winds are rather strong high up and the snow and ice make it even more difficult. There are no branching paths, so there is no risk of getting lost as long as you stay on the path."

"Has anyone been at the grand temple since it fell?" asked Leonardo.

"Occasionally yes. I once went there in my youth, when I was rather new here, I never went inside though. But the worst part was the rope bridge, it was very rickety, I hope it is still there."

"If it isn't, we'll have to figure something out." said Tyroth.

"Yeah, we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Michelangelo chuckled. He yelped when Raphael whacked him on the back of his head.

"Enough with the jokes." said Raphael, pulling on Michelangelo's mask. Leonardo sighed and shook his head.

"Forgive my brothers. They are… immature." he said to the old monk. "We thank you for your hospitality." he finished with a bow.

"You are most welcome. Good luck on your quest, and be careful."

* * *

"Man, this is almost as bad as that other mountain we had to climb. What was its name again?" Michelangelo complained after nearly an hour's walk along the narrow path, running along a giant chasm.

"Do you mean the Throat of the World?" said Donatello, and Michelangelo nodded. "Yeah, that was quite the climb. Although, it had stairs, so it was a little easier, granted it was seven thousand of them."

"But that view was something else. If we only had had a camera." said Sephie.

"I've never heard of a mountain with that name, but geography isn't one of my best subjects. Where in the world is it?" said Emma.

"Not this world actually. It's on another world that we went to before."

"Wait, what?! You've gone into space?!" Emma exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.

"It might have been more of an alternative dimension, but yes, a few times actually." said Donatello like it was no big deal.

"And here I thought that it couldn't get any stranger." Emma sighed.

"Around us? Not a chance, girl." said Raphael.

* * *

After a few more minutes, the team saw the old bridge, hanging over the chasm separating the two peaks. As they got closer, they could see that the rope bridge was indeed rickety. It was very old and weathered, missing several boards and the ropes showed signs of individual threads that had snapped.

Looking at the bridge and then at the great chasm, Michelangelo took a step back and gulped.

"Ain't there another way that is, oh I don't know, safe?"

"Don't worry, these kind of bridges are remarkably strong. But we shouldn't all go at once, just to be on the safe side." said Donatello.

"I'll go first." said Tyroth and started to make his way across. He trea?d carefully, holding on to the sides and carefully placing his feet on the boards. The wood creaked under his weight and the bridge swung in the sudden gusts of wind.

Everything went well, right until he reached the middle, where one of the boards broke under his weight. The others gasped, but Tyroth kept his balance and continued. Even though his heart beat a little faster from the sudden lack of footing, he wasn't overly worried. Should he fall, he was confident that he'd be able to fly back up again, hence why he insisted to be first to cross.

Finally, he made it over to the other side, and told the others to follow one by one.

Leonardo was the first, walking slowly and concentrated he made it without any problem. Second was Sephie, her long serpentine body allowed her to spread her weight over a larger areas, despite the extra weight it had added. The wood still creaked ominously, but she made it over without any trouble.

Donatello soon followed, using his staff to keep his balance when the bridge swayed in the winds. Once he had crossed, it was Emma's turn. Slowly, she made her way over, keeping her eyes on he other side, so she wouldn't look down.

A sudden and strong gust of wind swung the bridge violently, and Emma held on to the ropes for dear life. Once it stopped, she didn't move, she just clung to the ropes with her eyes shut tight.

"Keep moving, Emma, you're almost here." said Sephie.

"I… I can't… I'm too scared… it's too high…"

"She's got vertigo! Solid ground seems to be fine, but not the bridge." said Donatello.

"I'll get her." said Tyroth and took to the air.

"Just hold out, Emma! Help is on the way!" Sephie called out.

Shortly after, Tyroth made it to Emma and spoke to her while circling above her.

"Okay, Emma, I'll grab you around your waist, I want you to put your arms around my neck. And please try to keep calm and still, especially your tail. This might happen a bit suddenly, but just trust me, okay?"

Emma nodded, but still kept her eyes shut. Tyroth descended as slowly as he could, not wanting to add more weight to the bridge. When he could reach Emma, he quickly put his arms around her waist and flapped her wings to lift them both. As soon as she felt his arms, Emma threw her arms around his neck and held on for her life.

It was with difficulties that Tyroth lifted Emma above the bridge, not only did he have to fight the winds, but Emma's cumbersome new body-shape and the additional weight that followed made it even harder for him. Still, he managed to steer them both to safety, landing softly on the other side. But Emma still wouldn't let go of the dragon. Sephie couldn't help but feel a little jealous, seeing how tightly Emma embraced Tyroth, but she knew that Emma was terrified, so she didn't mind. There were many times that Sephie herself had found comfort in Tyroth's arms.

Once Emma was safe, Raphael began to cross the bridge, trying to keep a higher pace to make up for lost time, as he wanted to cure Monalisa as fast as possible. Despite his rash approach, he managed to make it over without any incidents.

Monalisa was next, and she took it considerably slower than her rash mate. She too wanted to be rid of the curse, but she knew that that was no excuse to be reckless. They had already had enough problems and there were bound to be more, no need to add to them.

With Monalisa on the other side as well, that left Michelangelo all alone. Again looking at both the bridge and the chasm, he wasn't too eager to try and cross it, but at the same time, he wasn't overly fond of the thought of staying behind either.

"Get a move on, Mikey!" Raphael called from the other side. "We can't wait all day for you, you wuss!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Geez."

With slightly wobbly legs, Michelangelo began walking slowly, increasing the speed little by little as he went on. When he almost was at the other side, just a few metres away, a board that he stepped on broke and he would have fallen through if it hadn't been for Monalisa. She reacted quickly and lashed out with her snake tail, wrapping it around Michelangelo's arm and pulling him to safety.

"Phew! Thanks a lot, sis. I thought I was a goner."

"Not on my watch, Mikey. As long as I got this extra reach, I might just as well use it to keep you safe. You aren't hurt, are you?"

"No, I don't think so, just a little shaken."

"If you feel that you need some time to recover, we'll wait for a while." said Leonardo.

"It's cool, bro, I'm okay. But on the way back, I'm taking the dragon taxi. Why didn't we take it to begin with?"

"The bridge was okay, so I didn't find it necessary to ferry you all from one side to the other. But if you insist, I'll do it when we leave." said Tyroth.

* * *

Continuing along the path up the mountain, the group spent the better part of an hour simply walking upward, and then almost as much time walking deeper into the valley between the peaks. The sun had begun to set and the temperature drop, but finally, they reached the grand temple.

 **That was a close call for Mikey, he seems to have those often, but luckily Mona was able to use her new body to save him. Being part snake has its advantages.**

 **Poor Emma, she must be really shaken from that experienced, at least she's okay and they have finally reached the grand temple. But what awaits them there?**

 **Find out next time. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Temple of Naginalga**

Before the team stood the grand temple of Naginalga. Unlike the smaller temple the monks used, the grand temple showed signs of age and lack of maintenance, yet one could still see the splendour that it once had.

The great doors of the mighty walls stood slightly ajar, allowing the group easy access to the courtyard, where it was slightly warmer.

"Wonder how anyone managed to attack this place." said Leonardo. "Even if the priestesses were pacifists, getting in here wouldn't have been an easy task, let alone getting up here."

"Yeah, any kind of siege equipment would be too cumbersome to bring, and trying to starve them out would have been pointless since the temple most likely was self-sufficient, not to mention the climate." said Donatello.

"Speaking of which, could we go inside now? My tail and belly are ice cold." said Sephie.

Entering the courtyard, the slightly higher temperature was a welcomed change, but that wasn't all that awaited. Corpses from the last attack lay all over the courtyard, mummified by the time and the cold, their dried skin looking like leather stretched over their bones and the clothes were little more than rags.

"Monstrous… Who would attack a priestess?" said Monalisa.

"Some form of barbarians." said Donatello as he knelt by one of the old bodies. "And from the looks of this, they might have been quite clever."

"What have you found?" Raphael asked.

"If you look at this body, you'll see that the remains of the clothes are of fur and hide, not cloth like the women of the order would have, but rather like barbarians would. And judging from the hips, among other things, this one was a woman as well."

"A female attacker? That wasn't very common during that time." said Leonardo.

"Precisely, but I'm willing to bet that there were many more females in the ranks of the barbarians. They might even have been able to infiltrate the temple and open the doors, which would explain why the doors looked unharmed, aside from weather and wind."

"Crafty bastards." Tyroth growled. "At least it seems like the order made the attackers work for it, I think I see bodies of more attackers closer to the main building."

True enough, as the group walked across the courtyard, they found more corpses in fur among the others, and just like the first, most of them were female.

Opening the doors to the great hall, more bodies of both sides littered the floor, with century old bloodstains dotting the white stone floor like open wounds. The once serene site of worship was nothing more than a tomb of slaughtered women and their attackers.

Aside from the remains, there was little of interest in the hall. Two sets of doors at the far end of the room, that probably led deeper into the temple, numerous shattered urns and a huge statue in between the doors. The statue was that of a snake woman, much like Emma and the lizards, with the long tail coiled up underneath. Six mighty arms were placed against the wall behind it, each holding a massive sword of stone with bloodstains, and the head was depicted as bald.

"I'm guessing that's Naginalga." said Monalisa as she looked at the five metre tall statue. "Hope that means that we're close."

"We're close alright. I can feel it." said Tyroth. "There is magic here, more than most places, and unless I'm mistaken, this altar the monk spoke of is on the other side of those doors."

"Then what are we waiting for? We'll soon be normal again!" said Emma as she began slithering towards the doors at a high pace.

"Emma, wait!" said Donatello, who hurried after her. Reaching her roughly halfway through the hall, the purple-masked turtle was just about to tell her to be vary of traps, when the giant statue started to move and the eyes glowed white.

 **A bit short, but I just couldn't pass up that cliffhanger, I'm sure that you would have done the same.**

 **The coming confrontation will be a challenge for the team, let's see how they manage it, in the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Temple Guardian**

With a hiss that turned into a loud shriek, the massive statue pulled its sword-wielding arms free from the wall behind it. Setting its glowing eyes on the intruders, it shrieked again and moved towards them with its swords held high, and it moved surprisingly fast for a giant stone statue, the stone stretching like it was leather and sounding like rocks being scraped against each other.

With lightning-fast speed, it lashed out with it's ten metre long tail at Donatello and Emma.

"Duck!" Tyroth yelled as he dashed over to the two and pushed them down under the oncoming attack, but he was too slow to manage to avoid it himself, and was struck across the chest so hard that he was thrown away like a mitten, hitting the temple-wall violently and fell to the floor.

"Tyroth!" Sephie cried out, afraid that her mate was seriously hurt, and hurried to his side.

"Ugh… that hurt..." he said, slowly trying to get back up.

Meanwhile, the statue continued to attack, seemingly focusing on Donatello, swinging the six stone blades at him. Donatello had to be quick on his feet to avoid the attacks, which wasn't easy with the winter clothes that he wore.

"A little help here!"

"Hold on, Don! We're coming!" Leonardo yelled as he and the others drew their weapons and rushed to help their brother.

Monalisa too wanted to help, but her new body didn't support her fighting style very well, still, she drew her fans and was ready to support her family.

Emma hurried away from the fight, she wasn't a fighter and would most likely only be in the way. But she didn't know what the others possibly could do against such a thing.

Donatello did a pole-jump to avoid another attack from the statue, almost feeling the wind from the sword as it missed him with only inches to spare. The statue was just about to attack again, but Leonardo interrupted it with a pair of slashes of his own, sparks flying as his katana struck the back, catching its attention, but doing little else.

Raphael and Michelangelo joined their brother, attacking from different angles, and with their help Donatello was given enough breathing room to join the fray. However, just like with Leonardo initial attacks, they weren't able to inflict any damage upon the statue.

"Uh, guys, this isn't working." said Michelangelo, who had been hammering at the head of the statue with his nunchaku, but had to jump off as the statue tried to swat him away with one of its swords. "We need some heavy artillery to down this thing."

"Hey, Big T! How about giving us a big hand?" Raphael shouted.

"On my way!" the dragon shouted back, having taken a very short moment to make sure that he didn't have any hindering injuries left from the last blow. "Care to give me some back up, babe?"

"Gladly." Sephie responded, drawing her bow and readying one of her explosive arrows.

Tyroth ran towards the fight and breathed fire at the statue's face, not doing any damage, but drawing its attention away from the turtles. As it turned towards him, Tyroth ignited his right fist, still running at the statue. With the dragon closing in, the statue raised one of its many sword-arms to strike him down, but as the arm fell, Sephie struck it with her arrow, the explosive tip blowing apart the fingers holding the sword. Without its fingers, the statue couldn't hold its sword and it fell to the ground, giving Tyroth the opening he needed to deliver his Dragon Punch right into the abdomen of the statue.

The fire around his hand took the shape of a large dragon before the punch connected with the stone creature, concentrating into a single point upon impact and exploding through the abdomen, sending chunks and shards of stone flying, and it seemed like the battle was won, but it wasn't.

Before any of the stone fragments touched the floor, they all stopped mid-air for a split second, and were pulled together, completely reforming the statue without any signs of damage.

Being caught completely off guard by its restoration, Tyroth didn't see the next attack coming until it was too late, again getting struck across the chest by the statue's massive tail, and getting sent flying into another temple wall.

"Well, that could have gone better." said Michelangelo. "Anyone else got any bright ideas, 'cause we all know I don't!"

"Donnie?"

"I'm thinking, Leo, I'm thinking!"

The statue then picked up the sword it had dropped, and turned towards the turtles, shrieking at them.

"Think faster, Don!" Raphael said. "This thing ain't gonna wait!"

Resuming its attack on the turtles, the four brothers couldn't do anything except to evade the swings of the large stone blades, while they tried to think of a way to stop it. But Monalisa couldn't wait, for the entire battle, she had stood on the sideline, feeling more like a hindrance with her unfamiliar body, but she refused to let that stop her. Her family needed all the help they could get. With her fans drawn, she slithered to their aid as fast as she could, placing herself between the statue and the turtles.

"Mona! What are you doing?! Get outta the way!" Raphael yelled with worry in his voice.

"No! I won't let you fight alone!" she said, baring her fans to the statue.

"But you're in no shape to fight!" said Donatello.

"I don't care! It doesn't matter if I'm part snake or not, I can't just stand by and watch!"

With Monalisa blocking the statue's path, everyone expected that it would attack her, but it didn't, instead it tried to move past her. But Monalisa wouldn't allow it, she followed the statue's movements, continuing to block it. And when the statue found itself blocked again, it once again tried to move around Monalisa, only for her to block it anew. This continued for several minutes and everyone was confused by its behaviour.

"Why ain't it attacking her?" Raphael asked. "Not that I'm complaining, I'm perfectly fine with that, but, why?"

"Maybe it sees her like a little sister, or maybe a daughter?" said Michelangelo. "You know, since she's half snake too."

"I think you might be onto something, Mikey," said Donatello. "but I think it's less the snake thing, and more Mona's gender that is the deciding factor. The old monk said that Naginalga was a protector of women, that must be why this guardian isn't attacking her."

"But being male, we are fair game. That makes sense." said Leonardo. "Alright, everyone but the girls, out of the temple!"

"Can't say I like that plan, but nothing else has worked so far." said Tyroth. "Good luck, girls."

While Monalisa still blocked the statue, Tyroth and the turtles hurried out of the building, the statue's eyes following their every step. Sephie followed Monalisa's example and positioned herself in the way as well, Emma did so too, if more cautiously than the lizards.

With the males out of the temple building, and the only way to pursue them blocked, the statue lowered its weapons and returned to where it stood when the gang arrived, taking its original pose, the light in its eyes faded.

"I can't believe that worked." said Emma.

"Me neither." said Sephie, putting away her weapons.

"Is it clear to come in?" Michelangelo asked, sticking in his head through the door. But as soon as he did, he saw the eyes of the statue light up again and he quickly pulled back his head with an 'eep!'. "I guess not."

"Seems we can't enter the building at all, you girls have to continue alone." Leonardo called from the outside.

"Be careful in there! All three of you!" Raphael called out.

"We will, hun!" Monalisa called back to her mate, then turned to Sephie and Emma. "If you two are ready, let's get this over with."

They both nodded, and the three half-snakes slithered over to one of the doors and opened it, venturing deeper into the building.

 **That was a tough opponent, and a rather unexpected kind of victory for the team. But just what await the girls deeper in the grand temple, capable as they are, there just might be something more dangerous than the statue in there.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **Curse Undone**

Entering through the door, the girls found themselves in another room, slightly smaller than the hall they came from and more ornate in its design. The walls had many carvings, both pictures and text, all of it undecipherable to the three girls, but the thing that was of most interest to them was the small altar in the middle of the room.

"Is that the altar the old monk spoke of?" Emma asked, worried that it might not be.

"I think it is." said Sephie. "And I for one can't see anything else that would qualify."

"So I just approach the altar then? Okay, here goes nothing I guess..."

Emma slowly moved closer to the altar, unsure of what might happen. Once she was within five feet of the stone pedestal, she felt a warmth emanating from the necklace and she pulled it out from her clothes. Like magic, it undid its own lock, and Emma now held it in her hands, glad to finally get it off. Looking at the top of the pedestal, she saw an indent that seemed to be the same shape as the necklace, so she placed it there.

It fitted perfectly, and not long after she had placed it there, it started to glow with a bright white light. Monalisa and Sephie prepared themselves, since the last time a necklace had given off such a light, they were transported to another world, so they had to be ready for anything.

The light rose from the necklace, forming a sphere that grew to the size of a beachball and hovered high above the altar. A woman's voice could be heard from the sphere, talking in an ancient language, yet for some reason, they could all understand it.

"I am Naginalga, guardian of women." it said. "You have returned my talisman, for that you have my gratitude."

"Um… does that mean that you can remove the curse that it has placed on us?" Emma asked carefully.

"There is no curse, only the blessing that you have received."

"Blessing?! What-"

"Calm down, Emma." Monalisa interrupted. "Please explain, we do not understand."

"When the virgin's red tears of blood are spilt on the talisman, it powers awakens, and upon its touch granting my strength to women that are stolen from their home and kin, so they may return to whence they came."

"'Stolen from their home and kin'? Does that mean what I think it means?" said Sephie.

"I think it does." said Monalisa.

"The human is lost here, care to explain to me?" said Emma.

"Your blood activated the talisman, just like Donnie thought."

"Yeah, that part I get, 'cause I'm a virgin, but the rest?"

"All three of us have been stolen from our home and kin, our families, in one way or another." said Sephie. "Mona and I were both attacked and later mutated and haven't seen our families in years. They don't even know we're alive. And you told us that you ran away and tried to join the Purple Dragons, and in a sense, they stole you when they let you in."

"The talisman is supposed to give people like us the power to overcome such things, to be able to defeat those that took us from our families and return home again." said Monalisa.

"So we just have to go back home? Is that it? My parents will freak out if they see me like this, and the same goes for you two as well, right?" asked Emma.

"Yeah… even if we return to our previous forms…" Monalisa said with a sad voice.

"Is there any way for us to give up this blessing?" Sephie asked Naginalga.

"Do you truly want to give up the power you have been given?"

"We do. The world has changed a great deal, as it is now, we would be even more vulnerable to those who wish to hurt us than before, despite the powers you have bestowed upon us."

"I see. Perhaps have my time passed, together with the need of me. I shall revoke my blessing and fade away into oblivion."

"Wait, Naginalga, please don't disappear!" said Monalisa. "This blessing may not be needed any longer, but women do still need a guardian spirit to watch over them. A presence that will lend them strength when they need it the most. Please."

"Your faith in me is admirable, and touching, maybe you are right."

"Does that mean you will stay?" Emma asked.

"Yes, and in time, the order of old may be reborn, reincarnated to help women in need in new ways. Again, you have my gratitude. Farewell."

The sphere of light flashed brightly before vanishing into the necklace again, and when the girls had recovered from their short blindness, they saw that they had been restored to their old selves again, with their special winter skirts transformed into perfectly fitted pants and boots, complete with special parts for Monalisa and Sephie's tails.

"We're back to normal!" Emma exclaimed, happy that the curse... blessing… whatever, was finally gone.

"Well, you are, we're still mutant lizards." said Sephie.

"Yeah, but it wasn't like I was expecting to become human again. At least our lives will be easier like this than like half-snakes." said Monalisa.

"Right, sorry about that." said Emma.

"It can't be helped. You don't have to apologize. We'll just have to accept that we may never become human again, as sad as that is." said Sephie. "But I can't help but wonder how the necklace was supposed to help women stolen from their families, if it was kept here until it was stolen."

"Maybe it has powers that we don't know of, or maybe it had at one point in time." said Monalisa. "But let's not dwell on that, they guys are waiting for us, and I for one can't wait to get back home and away from this cold."

"You're not the only one." said Emma. "My parents must be worried sick about me, if they even want to see me again after the things I said to them."

"I'm sure they will be happy that you're back again, even if they will scold you for running away in the first place, parents are that way." said Sephie. "You will have some explaining to do though, but you do understand that you can't tell anyone about us."

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. Not like anyone would believe me if I did, I'm not even sure I believe all that's happened."

"We know the feeling, but strange things seem to find us, so we've kinda grown used to it. Kinda." said Monalisa.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the building, the male mutants waited impatiently in the cold for the girls to return, but the cold was the last thing on the mind of some of them.

"I don't like this, they've been gone for too long." said Raphael, worried about his mate, pacing back and forth.

"What do you suppose we do, we can't get past that guardian." said Tyroth. "I'm just as worried about Sephie as you are about Mona, but this is out of our hands. But I got faith in the girls, I'm sure they will be fine."

Suddenly, the dragon tensed for a second and looked at the building, then he smiled.

"What's up, T?" Michelangelo asked.

"I felt a surge of powerful magic inside the building."

"You did? Are you sure?" Donatello asked.

"I am. When magic is so scarce as it is in our world, it's easy to notice fluctuations in areas rich in it if one is close enough, at least if you're sensitive like me. I'm willing to bet that the curse has been lifted."

"If that's the case, the girls should be fine by now, but I still don't think that it's safe for us to go in." said Leonardo. "Better to just wait for them a bit longer."

A few minutes later, the girls, now humanoid again, exited the building, and the lizards were met by their mates, receiving big hugs from them.

"You're all back to your old selves again." said Donatello. "Tyroth's bet was right on the money."

"Yeah, and it feels great to walk on two legs again." said Sephie.

"What happened in there?" Leonardo asked.

"We'll tell you on the way back, I want to go home." said Monalisa. "If we can make it before it gets dark, that is."

"Shouldn't be any problems, though I think we'll have to settle with the temple, I don't think we will be able to get back to the jet before sun down." said Donatello.

"The jet. We still have to dig it out from all that snow. And we're still one fuse short, has anyone remembered to look for some form of crystal?" Tyroth asked.

"Actually, we don't need that." said Donatello. "I'll just take a fuse from my shell-cell, it should work just as good as the original."

"So you could have done that from the start? And we could have taken the jet here instead? Why didn't you say anything sooner?" said Michelangelo.

"Sorry about that, it simply slipped my mind. But I'll have it fixed in no-time at all once we get back, and the rest of you can dig out the jet while I work."

"We got a lot of work ahead of us then. Let's move, people." said Raphael.

 **Yay! The girls are back to their bipedal forms again! In the end, it was simpler to lift the 'curse' than they expected, and I bet they are happy about that.**

 **Now they just have to get back home, and with Donnie having figured out a solution, they shouldn't have any real problems, once they have dug up the jet again.**

 **Stay tuned for the final chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **All Is Well That Ends Well… Or Is It?**

The journey down the mountain was substantially easier than the way up, since it was downhill and warmer than earlier. The group's spirits were also higher now that the 'curse' on the girls had been lifted, so it felt a lot easier for them, even the old rope-bridge didn't pose any real problem, as the winds were calmer, allowing Tyroth to ferry the rest to the other side in record time.

A few hours later, they reached the temple, where the monks welcomed them back inside the warmth. And the elder was very interested in hearing what they had to say.

"I see, that does shed some light on things." he said once the team had explained what that had happened. "To think that the curse was not a curse at all, but a blessing from Naginalga. There is more that have been lost than we thought."

"Indeed, but at least we have recovered a little piece of it." said Leonardo.

"And we will make sure to make proper records of it, for future generations. And with the talisman back where it belongs, maybe that order will return one day, just like Naginalga said."

"One can always hope." said Tyroth. "Would it be rude of me to assume that your offer of staying the night here still stands?"

"Of course not, you are all welcome here whenever your path may lead you here. It may not be a hotel, but I am certain that it will be more than enough."

"Thank you, we really appreciate it." said Monalisa.

* * *

The next day, the group headed out shortly after the sun had risen, after thanking the monks for their hospitality and saying good-bye to them.

The path that Tyroth had made trough the snow the day before was still intact, and allowed them to get back to the jet in record time. Though, seeing it half-buried in the snow wasn't the happiest sight they could have hoped for, they had a lot of work ahead of them.

"Well, if you guys start digging, I'll head inside and finish the repairs." said Donatello as he opened the hatch on the side of the jet.

"This will take a while." said Leonardo, eyeing the massive amount of snow. "Are there any kind of shovels in the jet?"

"Nope. We'll have to dig with our own hands." Tyroth sighed.

"Great, like my fingers weren't like icicles already." Michelangelo complained.

It was a long and hard time that the group spent digging, and despite that they worked hard, they still got very cold while doing so. Tyroth could warm them with his magic, but it still took longer than they wanted. After about an hour, Donatello had completed the repairs, and exited the jet to help the others, once he had had the time to get warmed as well, for it was just as cold inside the jet as outside.

It was late in the afternoon when they had managed to remove almost all of the snow and ice, and at that time Tyroth took over, using his flames to melt the last of the snow. While it had been easier to let him do so in the first place, he wasn't sure that he would be able to melt that much snow, and worried that the water would just freeze anew on the jet. Within short, the jet was finally completely freed from its frozen prison, and the group could at last return home.

* * *

The next day, Emma hurried down the streets of New York, she could see the area where she lived and she was really anxious to get back home again. Rounding the last corner, she reached the entrance of the apartment building and hurried inside.

Standing outside her door, she hesitated a bit. She hadn't left on the best of terms, but she longed after her parents so much that she had to brave whatever awaited her. Bracing herself, she rang the doorbell and waited.

A middle-aged woman with long black hair opened the door, Emma's mother.

"Emma?" she said, her eyes wide with shock. "Oh my God! Emma! Where have you been? Your father and I have been so worried about you."

Emma wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the words, instead she threw her arms around her mother, and cried as she was finally home. Her mother was completely taken by surprise, and didn't know what to say, even though she was angry that Emma had run away.

"I'm sorry, Mom… I'm so sorry… I never wanted to say all those things I said… I just want to be home again, with you and Dad…"

"Emma… dear… I… I'm just glad that your back safe and sound… let's just forget that fight..."

"I want nothing else, Mom…"

"But where have you been all this time? It's been several days."

"I've been… lost… and got into trouble, but I met some really kind people that helped me."

"That's good to hear, but let's not stand here in the doorway, come in and I'll get you something to eat, you must be starving."

Emma gladly followed her mother, a few tears of happiness still rolling down her cheeks. She was finally home again, together with her mother, and her father would be home shortly so she could meet him as well. Though, she would later learn, that she had not gotten home unharmed, and the same was true for a few others.

* * *

Later that night, in the lair, things were not as happy as one would have thought.

"ACHOO! Oh, bad… by dose is all stuffed… just our luck to catch a cold..." said Michelangelo, shivering under his blanket in the couch.

His brothers weren't much better off, as they too had gotten the same nasty cold. The girls, having better healing abilities than the turtles, had not gotten as sick, but they were still out of commission and wrapped with blankets. Only Tyroth, with his superior healing ability, had resisted the disease, but it fell upon him to take care of the sickly, together with Splinter, who had also avoided getting sick.

"Hey… Big T, could you hurry up with that soup? I really could use sobe..." said Raphael.

"Take it easy, I'm coming." said the dragon as he carried a large tray with bowls of hot soup.

"Is it chicked soup? I cad't feel the sbell..." said Sephie as she was handed a bowl.

"No, this is a family recipe that I've added my personal touch to. Mom's chilli and curry soup with vegetables, and I've added a healthy dose of hot sauce to give it a little extra punch."

"A healthy dose? How buch is that?" asked Raphael as he took a spoon-full of the soup. "Dosed't taste buch at all, how- Ghaa! Hot! Hot as shell!"

"Yeah, I forgot to warn you, it takes a little while before the full flavour kicks in." said Tyroth.

"Kicks in?! It kicks like a bule! What is this soup supposed to do?! Cook us?!"

"In a sense, yeah, the heat from the chilli and the hot sauce will clear your systems. It has always worked for me, before I mutated."

"I wodder which is worse, the disease or the cure." said Monalisa as she steeled herself for the hot soup.

"I suggest that you accept what help you are offered, children, and maybe we can get you all back on your feet soon." said Splinter. "I will prepare some ginseng tea for you, it should help both with the cold and the spiciness of the soup."

"Thadk you, baster Splidter." said Leonardo.

"Yeah, thadk- ACHOO! …ugh… yuck! Hadd full of sdot… Gross… Hey, T?"

"And you think you have it bad." Tyroth said under his breath. "I'm coming, Mikey, don't worry."

 **Reptiles and cold don't really mix, in more ways than one, and our heroes are sure to remember that.**

 **But this is the end of this story, I really hope that you've all enjoyed it, and thank you for the support. This wasn't one of my more serious stories, but it was one that I've been wanting to write for a while, and being serious all the time tends to get a bit boring.**

 **Before I leave you for this time, be on the look out for my coming works, since more will be published in a few days or so, as of posting this.**

 **Take care! :)**


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